Chapter 14

"Nothing?!"

"How could you find nothing?!"

Valentina asked but Marielle dutifully ignored her, her steps quick and light as they made their way back to the mansion. She didn't even spare her a glance.

"Can you explain what that means?"

Valentina asked as she continued to pester her with more questions. She almost tripped as she walked behind her, struggling to keep up with her pace.

Marielle signed.

"I'm afraid I can't explain what I don't know."

"And what do you mean by that?!"

She paused as she stared at her. Marielle looked away, her eyes distant.

"Exactly what it means Valentina."

Marielle drawled. She sounded fed up with her, but Valentina could tell something else was wrong.

How her demeanour had quickly changed, how she had suddenly turned to leave without sparing her a glance, oh something was definitely happening. She just couldn't tell what it was yet.

Since Marielle had refused to tell her.

Back at the mansion, Ellen waited dutifully at the door, with a big smile and a jug of what seemed to be freshly made juice, almost as if she had been waiting for them.

The moment Marielle set her eyes on her she made a beeline for the annex, leaving Valentina to meet Ellen.

Ellen and a bright smile of her face as she waved at Valentina to come over.

"So tell me! How was it?!"

She asked as she put her hand around Valentina's shoulder.

"Nothing happened."

Ellen furrowed her eyebrows, she looked at her daughter in law with morbid curiosity.

"You didn't make the shift?!"

She shook her head.

"I didn't."

Ellen sighed, she tried to make the best out of the situation. She could already see Valentina was discouraged.

"That's okay. Nobody really ever gets it on their first try. I made you some lemonade."

"Come inside let me pour you a glass."

"That would be lovely."

Valentina muttered as she wiped her brow.

It was a long walk.  To the woods and back and she was not particularly used to walking for so long.

Walking around the property wasn't as long or as tedious as walking in the woods.

She had gotten tired on their way back but she didn't slow her pace because Marielle was moving so fast and she was scared of her leaving her behind.

Back in the living room, Ellen poured Valentina a glass of lemonade while Valentina looked around.

The house looked empty. No sign of Kale. Or Remy.

"Is Remy home?!"

She found herself asking timidly. Ellen shot her a look before replying.

"He is. He's somewhere in the annex I guess. He's been there a while."

"Oh okay."

Valentina took little sips.

"What's he doing at the annex?!"

Ellen shrugged.

"He's provably fixing stuff. Or talking to the pack members. I wonder why he didn't go with you to help you shift."

She had also wondered why.

She had chalked it up to him being busy but maybe she was right about he avoiding her.

But for what reason did he have to avoid her?!

And why was he avoiding her in the first place.

"I think I'll go lie down for a while. My head sort of aches."

Valentina murmured as she stood up with her glass of juice in her hand.

Ellen looked at her with concern and rushed to her side, she placed a hand on her forehead.

"You don't have a temperature. Is everything okay?"

Valentina politely waved her away.

"Yes. I think I'm just tired that's all."

"Well do you want something to eat? I could have someone bring some food up. The chef just made some of his famous beef roast and I could have someone bring some up for you..."

"Not now! Not now! I can't eat anything now I just want to lie down."

Valentina said a little more firmly.

Ellen understood the seriousness in her tone and backed off.

She liked Ellen, the woman was kind and doting but she could be a little overbearing most of the time.

She didn't like that, or particularly want someone all up in her face all the time.

She dropped her glass of juice and started walking towards the stairs.

Her head felt lighter, and subsequently better, but the thought of going back to her room and lying on her bed sounded boring to her.

She was tired of just lying down on the bed. She wished she could find something else to occupy her time but whenever she thought of that dreadful art room it made her shiver.

She still couldn't believe she painted stuff like that.

At all.

In the hallway she looked at the rooms, most of them she had not been inside before, especially the left wing of the house, which was mostly bustling with people she had no plans of saying hello to. But there was a study here somehow, Remy's office where he often disappeared too and Valentina wanted to see it.

She rushed to the door and tried it, the door knob turned and the door clicked open.

Good. She thought it was locked.

The room was dark but she could make out the thick dark rug that covered most of the wood flooring and the shelves of books.

There was a large grand mahogany desk in the middle and there was a large shelf that was filled with sculptures and wooden carvings.

The wall was covered with paintings, most of them paintings of who Valentina believed to be Remy's ancestors, judging by how old they looked.

There was a MacBook on the table and Valentina rushed towards it, she sat down on the chair, the mere size of it seemed to make her look small and childish in it.

Then she looked next to the laptop and saw a phone.

Not just any phone, her phone.

"What's it doing here..."

She murmured as she picked it up gingerly. She had not seen it in a while, that was only because she was scared someone else might call and she was avoiding it for the most part.

But why was her phone in Remy's study?!

She unlocked her phone and went through it, she found nothing strange but she knew better than that.

If he was with her phone he must have known her password or something, or he tried to unlock her phone without her permission.

That was rude of him.

And she wondered why he would stoop so low to do something like that in the first place.

Did he unlock her phone?! She wondered as she shook her head, still mildly confused and annoyed that he had taken it in the first place.

"You're back?!"

Remy asked as he looked up from the engine he was fixing. The car was his father, an old mustang but nobody had used it in years, not even him. He had been strolling in the garage when he saw it and suddenly wondered how it would feel to drive the car with the back open and the wind blowing in his air.

He decided to fix it. At least it was better than staying in the main house, with Valentina being there and he not knowing the words to tell her or say to her.

Things had been especially awkward after her heat period.

Marielle grunted in response. He turned to look at her.

"Pass me that rag over there."

He pointed to the sweaty towel on his workbench. Marielle picked it up and threw it at him. It landed squarely on Remy's broad chest that was slick with sweat and oil from the car.

"Thanks."

He murmured as he cleaned his hands.

"What happened?"

He finally asked and Marielle shook her head.

"I don't even have the words to explain it. I could barely feel her wolf..."

"What do you mean?"

Marielle sighed as she sat on the bench.

"I cannot explain it. Because I don't even understand, but her wolf is in there... she's just very weak and very dormant at the moment."

Remy was silent for a long time. Then he sighed.

"I need to set up an appointment with the specialist then. We need to know what happened."

Marielle looked at Remy.

"Do you think seeing more humans would help?! I don't think it will."

"Why do you say so?"

Marielle shrugged.

"This doesn't seem like something human's would understand. If we had a healer..."

Remy visibly stiffened.

"If you're about to talk about John, don't bother! I don't want to hear anything about that old worthless man."

"He's the best healer we've ever had!"

Marielle protested.

Remy scoffed.

"Best healer?! He fucking left when my father died. Some healer he is!"

"We could... we could find him..."

Remy shook his head.

"He left our pack. He's no longer a member. I'm not going to look for him and that's final."

Remy's voice boomed across the yard, Marielle straightened. She would drop the matter then.

"Okay then. Set the appointment with the human specialist. Take her there. The sooner she regains her memory the better for us."

She said and stormed away.